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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: George Papadopoulos who wrote (13304)	7/4/1999 2:18:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 17770

Kosovo Troop Delay Angers Moscow 01:47 p.m Jul 04, 1999 Eastern By Peter Graff MOSCOW (Reuters) - A NATO delegation flew to Moscow Sunday in an apparent eleventh hour bid to head off yet another Kosovo peacekeeping row between Russia and the West, after the alliance refused to let Moscow send more troops. The United States and NATO pressed Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary to deny Russia their air space, forcing Moscow to ground Kosovo-bound troops due to start flying Sunday. Moscow made no formal statement in response, but Russian military officials and diplomats made their anger clear in anonymous comments to local news media. A U.S. embassy official in Moscow said a U.S. diplomat, assistant Army attache Lt. Col. Peter Hoffman, was expelled from Moscow Thursday. In Washington, a White House spokesman declined to comment on the expulsion but discouraged speculation it might be linked to Russian unhappiness over Kosovo peacekeeping arrangements. Washington said further details about Russia's role have to be resolved before 3,600 Russian troops can join the few hundred of their countrymen who arrived unexpectedly on June 12 and occupied the airport in the provincial capital Pristina. A NATO spokesman in Brussels said a delegation had flown to Moscow Sunday ''to discuss further details of Russia's participation in KFOR with a view to reaching an agreement.'' But Russian officials said they thought all the details had already been settled last month in Helsinki, when they were forced to back down from a demand they be given a sector to police in mainly Serb-populated parts of the province. ''Such assertions (that there were still details to be worked out) can be described as a provocation on the part of the United States,'' Interfax news agency quoted unnamed Defense Ministry sources as saying. Since its first troops arrived, Russia has sent only small technical crews to prepare for the main contingent's deployment. A prolonged delay could be a major embarrassment for Moscow. For days, Russian television news reports have paraded pictures of paratroopers saying they are eager for their mission. Interfax quoted a ''high-ranking Russian diplomat'' as singling out new NATO member Hungary for criticism, saying its refusal to open its air space would harm bilateral ties. ''This is not Hungary's first attempt to complicate Russia's peacekeeping and humanitarian activity in the Balkans,'' the diplomat said, referring to Budapest's reluctance to allow a Russian humanitarian convoy to cross its territory to Yugoslavia during the NATO military operation. ''Now, on orders from the United States, Hungary has blocked the Russian peacekeepers' flight to Kosovo. This position can only arouse surprise and regret,'' the diplomat told Interfax. In a separate report, Interfax quoted a military official as saying the delay was unexpected for both Russia's defense and foreign ministries. A Defense Ministry spokesman told Reuters two military transport planes carrying 100 peacekeepers, military equipment and provisions would probably leave for Kosovo Monday, a day later than originally planned. ''In all likelihood, the planes will depart tomorrow,'' he said. He declined to comment further, as did the Foreign Ministry. But there were signs that the row could last longer than that. A NATO official in Brussels told Reuters: ''Russia will be back (here) next week to hammer out final details. Until then it is better that Russians troops are not reinforced. Under the deal agreed in Helsinki two weeks ago, Russian peacekeepers would be deployed in the U.S., French and German sectors of Kosovo. U.S. officials say Moscow has sought revisions to the Helsinki deal, demanding Russian forces report only to their own commanders and not to NATO. Russia has always maintained that its forces would not be under formal NATO command. The Kosovo problem has posed the biggest challenge to Moscow's relations with the West since the end of the Cold War. Sunday President Boris Yeltsin sent a goodwill message to President Clinton to mark U.S. Independence Day. He said the Kosovo crisis had shown the need for Moscow and Washington to work more closely to resolve international disputes. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.